What You Need to Know About Judging Others

What You Need to Know About Judging Others

THERE ARE TWO WORDS spoken by Jesus that are probably more well known and more widely used than anything else He has ever said. It doesn’t matter whether you’re religious or non-religious, a believer or an atheist, you may not know where to find these words in the Bible, but you know Jesus said them.

Within the church, we use them amongst ourselves. And they are used by others to incriminate us—and more often than not, rightly so. I believe nearly everyone on the planet has had a close encounter with these two words at one time or another as they as so much a part of our thinking—of our human nature. They are part of the basic vocabulary that comes with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They are in our DNA. And they are almost always used out of context with what Jesus actually said.

We find these two words in Matthew 7 and verse 1: Jesus said, “Judge not.”

This is an issue that affects all of us but unfortunately we never get to what He’s trying to say because we get stuck on the first two words. But what comes after that is challenging and you might even think a bit harsh. In fact, what He says is a whole lot different than what we’d like to think He says on this topic.

Keywords:
Judge not – discernment – self-righteousness – Matthew 7:1-6 – mind your own business – 1 Samuel 16:7 – John 13:34-35 – Matthew 5:7 – faults – sin – speck in your brother’s eye – plank in your own eye – the Judgment Zone – correction – judgmental – exhortation – Psalm 101:5 – overcoming – slander – gossip – mercy – justice – repentance – love vs like – self-awareness – feedback – pearls before swine – pride – Matthew 13:10-11 – John 5:2-6 – overcoming – repentance – personal example – Psalm 32:4-5 – Psalm 51:10-17